Disclaimer: Law & Order: Criminal Intent and its characters belong to Dick Wolf, Rene Balcer, NBC, et al; the only exceptions being the Flaherty clan, Lewis Matthews and other auxiliary characters – they are mine. There is no copyright infringement intended. This is an original work of fiction.
There Are Other Ways to Say I Love You…
Chapter 1Detectives Robert Goren and Alexandra Eames walked into the squadroom together, having just met up in the elevator. They were exchanging idle chit-chat when Detective O'Connell came up to them.
" 'Morning, you two," he said with a smile, "Boss wants to see you ASAP."
"Hey, O'Connell, always the bearer of glad tidings, I see," Alex smirked as she began to remove her jacket.
"What can I tell you? He just happened to grab me as I walked by."
"Did he say what this was about?" asked Goren. He'd removed his coat and tossed it on his chair.
O'Connell looked up at the tall detective. "Whaddya kidding? Alls I know is that it has something to do with the two suits sitting in his office." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder.
Eames and Goren both looked toward Captain James Deakins' office. They could see the Captain talking to a man and a woman. The Captain didn't look entirely thrilled. "Who are they, do you know?" Eames asked O'Connell.
He shrugged. "Feds, from the looks of them." He grinned and started to walk away. "Have fun, you two," he said over his shoulder.
Eames looked up at her partner, who was still staring intently at the Captain's office. She nudged him to get his attention. He finally tore his gaze away from the back of the woman's head and focused on Alex.
"Why would there be Feds in Deakins' office? We're not working on anything that would warrant that kind of attention, are we?" Eames asked.
"Not as far as I know," Goren answered, "unless it has something to do with this latest murder…" He trailed off, every nerve in his body tingling. He'd had a weird sense of anticipation from the moment he walked into 1 Police Plaza this morning. He couldn't attribute the feeling to anything, but he began to suspect that it has something to do with the people in Deakins' office. He looked back at the Captain's office and saw Deakins motioning to him and Alex.
"Bobby," Alex said as they started toward the office, "I don't mind telling you that you seem a little jumpier than usual this morning." Having worked with Goren for over a year, she had become very attuned to him, even if she still couldn't always figure him out.
The partners were a study in contrasts. Alex was a petite, pretty blonde who was smart and smart-mouthed. She called them as she saw them and was rather plain spoken about it. Bobby was the opposite in just about every respect. He was tall and broad. He had dark hair and eyes and his handsome face was perpetually covered by a raging five o'clock shadow. He was extremely cerebral, with a genius-level IQ and a knack for getting into people's heads. If he hadn't joined the NYPD, the FBI would have probably snatched him up for his profiling abilities. It seemed to Alex, and everyone else, that his mind was in a perpetual whirl. Around the squadroom, Alex was known as the talker and Bobby, the thinker. They worked beautifully together and were Deakins' best cops, even if they did drive him crazy sometimes.
As they reached the Captain's office, Bobby's nerves were practically screaming. It was obvious now that this weird sense of anticipation most definitely has something to do with the two people in Deakins' office.
Bobby opened the office door and stepped aside to let Alex in. As he did so, the Captain and the two people with him began to rise. Just as Bobby stepped over the threshold, the man and woman turned to face Alex and him, and at that moment, Goren's world stood still.
He stared in shock at the beautiful, dark-haired woman. She stared back, with a hint of a smile on her face. "Bobby," she said quietly.
"Alicia?" Goren said helplessly. This couldn't be happening. Goren felt as if the floor had dropped out from beneath him.
"You two know each other?" asked Captain Deakins, finally breaking the spell cast between Bobby and this woman, Alicia.
"All too well, Captain," she answered as she stepped up to Goren. "Hi, Bobby," she said softly as she reached up to hug him.
"It's good to see you, Alicia," Goren said as he bent down to touch his lips briefly to hers then enveloped her in a tight embrace.
Alex, caught completely by surprise, looked over at Deakins. He arched his eyebrows at her inquiringly, and she shrugged. She didn't know any more than he did.
Bobby and Alicia pulled back from their embrace and smiled at each other. Alicia turned to face the other people in the office. Bobby put a hand on her shoulder then spoke. "Sorry about the display of affection, Captain, it's just that Alicia and I haven't seen each other in three years."
"I see," said Deakins, not seeing at all. He looked at Alicia. "So you two must be related. I thought it was too much of a coincidence when you told me your name."
"Well," Alicia said hesitantly, "we, technically, aren't related, at least, not any more."
"Captain, Alex, please let me introduce you to Alicia Flaherty Goren…my ex-wife."
Deakins', Alex's and the other man's jaws dropped. The moment struck Alicia as so comical she had to duck her head to hide a smile.
Alex recovered first. She reached her right hand out toward Alicia. As the two women shook hands, Alex said, "Hi. I'm Alexandra Eames, Bobby's partner."
"Nice to meet you, Detective Eames. This gentleman here is my partner, Special Agent Lewis Matthews." Alex and Bobby nodded at Agent Matthews, who returned the nod.
"Well," Deakins said, finally recovering from his surprise, "won't everyone have a seat?"
Alicia glanced up at Bobby then returned to her seat next to Agent Matthews. Alex pulled up a chair and sat to Alicia's right. Goren grabbed the other remaining chair and sat at an angle to Alex, presumably so he could see Alicia better.
Alex was consumed with curiosity about the drop-dead gorgeous brunette sitting on her left. Bobby's ex-wife? While he really didn't do much talking about himself, surely he would have mentioned an ex-wife, especially one he seemed to be on such good terms with. Plus, she was stunning. What man wouldn't fall over himself boasting about having been married to a looker like that? Wake up, Alex. Bobby is not like most men. And this was exactly what most endeared Bobby to Alex. Despite his size, he was a gentle, compassionate man. He showed his tough side only when needed. While he was every inch a man, and kind of sexy if you thought about it (although Alex would never admit this to anyone), Bobby was not one of those who needed to prove his machismo at every turn. And he always treated Alex both as a lady and an equal. He never underestimated her and that meant a great deal to Alex. While he often unnerved her (he was just too damn smart for his own good), she was getting used to it and had long since decided she would never find a better partner.
Alex glanced over at Alicia and found that Alicia had been looking at her. She's probably as curious about me as I am about her, Alex thought. The two women smiled at each other, strangely comfortable with one another even though they'd just met. Alex decided to make it a point to get to know Alicia Goren a lot better.
Deakins sat behind his desk, shuffling papers on the pretense of looking for some notes. He was still reeling somewhat from the bombshell Bobby had just dropped. He sneaked a quick glance at the stunning woman sitting in front of him, who, at that moment, was exchanging a smile with Eames. This is Bobby's ex-wife? he thought, incredulously. Did anyone even know he had an ex-wife? Goren was not given to talking about himself, but every divorced man he knew griped about his ex-wife at one point or another. Goren never said a word. Deakins wondered what had happened between them. They seemed to get along, judging from the quick kiss and tight hug they shared. Deakins figured maybe it was time to try to coax Bobby into spending a little "guy time" with him.
"Well," Deakins said finally, "this has been a day full of surprises, and it's not even 10:00 a.m. yet." He paused. "Detectives Goren and Eames, I got a call this morning from the commissioner himself, requesting that Special Agents Goren and Matthews be made part of the team working on these so-called "Alphabet Murders." He paused when he saw strange but almost identical looks cross the faces of both Bobby and Alicia Goren. "It seems," he continued, "that Special Agent Goren, here" --boy, that felt weird to say-- "has knowledge of this case that can help us." He paused again, then turned to Bobby and Alex. "Any objections to working with the FBI?"
Alex smiled. "Doesn't look like we have much of a choice considering who made the request." She looked at Bobby, who was looking at Alicia. "Bobby?" Alex said.
Bobby grimaced slightly then said to Alicia, "Are you sure you want to put yourself through this again, Ali?"
Alicia gave a sad half-smile when she heard Bobby use his pet name for her. "Knowing what I know, Bobby, it wouldn't be right not to help. I think can handle it, but I might need you…"
An almost funereal silence descended on the room as Alicia and Bobby stared intently into each other's eyes. It was obvious to everyone that there was a whole lot being said with just that one look. Finally, Bobby shook his head slightly then turned his attention to Deakins.
"Eames and I would appreciate any help we get from Agents Goren and Matthews." Bobby sat back in his chair and looked over at Alicia and her partner. Alicia nodded to him slightly then faced Captain Deakins.
Whatever was going on, the captain thought, it was enough to make both Gorens very tense. Deakins turned his attention back to Alicia. "What kind of information do you have that might help our case, Agent Goren?" he asked.
Alicia took a deep breath and held it for a moment before exhaling slowly. Whatever information she had was obviously making her uncomfortable.
"Six years ago, a series of murders were committed, one in each of the five boroughs. They all appeared unrelated at first because, while each was fairly grizzly, they were committed using different methods. Stabbings, beatings, shootings…you get the idea. The only similarities were that there were always more than one victim and the victims were…" she paused to take a shaky breath, "…always left arranged in a certain way." She closed her eyes, drew in another deep breath, then opened her eyes and said, "The bodies were arranged to spell out various letters of the alphabet."
Deakins sat back in his chair. "That's exactly like…"
"The case we're working on now," Bobby finished for him.
Deakins shook his head. This was not the best news he'd had all day. This meant he had a copy-cat killer on his hands. He remembered the case but was sketchy on the details. "You were involved in the investigation, Agent Goren?" he asked.
"I was the lead investigator," she answered. At Deakins' raised eyebrow, she said, sardonically, "Bobby's not the only one with profiling capabilities. By the time these murders started happening, I'd been on the force 12 years. Even though I only held the rank of Detective Sergeant, by then I already had a master's degree and a doctorate in criminal pathology. Let's just say my captain respected my abilities and decided to put them to work."
"Of course, I'm sure that had nothing to do with the fact that the Chief of Detectives was, and is, your father." Agent Matthews, who had previously sat stone-faced and silent, now cocked an eyebrow at his partner.
Alicia flushed angrily, totally blindsided by her partner's remark, and Bobby felt an almost insane urge to slam his fist into the agent's smug face.
"I wasn't aware, Lewis," Alicia said in a deadly calm voice that belied her anger, "that you had anything to contribute to this conversation. We were only just assigned to work together two days ago and I really haven't had the time to brief you on any of this." She looked at her partner with such venom in her eyes that when she asked, "Do you have something more to contribute? Perhaps something I've missed?" he sat back in his chair and shook his head no.
As Alicia turned back to Deakins, Alex sneaked a glance at Bobby. He lips were set in a tight line and there was a small vein pulsing in his temple. Uh, oh, she thought, Bobby's pissed. Can't say I blame him. What kind of person would diss his partner in front of other people like that? Especially in front of her ex-husband? And Bobby's one big son of a bitch. Alex glanced at Deakins. He, too, seemed surprised at Matthew's remarks.
Alicia took another deep breath and, after a quick glance at an obviously angry Bobby, she continued.
"I earned that spot as lead, Captain, rest assured. Youth has nothing to do with intelligence and vice versa. Besides, I believe you know my father, Captain Deakins. You know Liam Flaherty's not the type to grant favors, not even to his own children. Of his five children, four of us are in law enforcement. My brother James is a firefighter. Of course, in a family full of Irish Catholic cops, Jimmy is considered the black sheep." She paused as the Captain, Alex, and even Bobby, laughed and nodded their heads in agreement. Matthews sat stone-faced once again.
"My father damn near had a stroke when he was told that I was lead on the case. For that matter, so did Bobby. We were still married at the time. The crimes were so grizzly, each worse than the last, that my father, who'd come out to survey the third and fourth crime scenes, actually begged me to let someone else take lead. I told him, as politely as I could, that he was out of him mind and walked away." She smiled at the memory. "I think that was the day Dad first considered me a complete equal, not just one of his cop kids." She shook herself out of her reverie. "However, I digress. As I said, after the first two killings, people began to think maybe there was something more to them than met the eye. Because the murders were so gruesome, we asked the press to withhold some of the details so as not to alarm the public. Everyone likes to think there is safety in numbers, but these murders kind of disproved that theory. When the third set of victims was found, we realized we had a serial killer on our hands and the task force was formed. Bobby had just made detective, and because of his talents, he was assigned to the task force. There were 12 of us, from different precincts around the city. Since the killer had struck in three different boroughs so far, it stood to reason that there could be murders of this nature in the remaining two. Unfortunately, we were right."
Deakins leaned forward in his chair. "There were seven sets of victims all told, weren't there?" he asked. He was beginning to remember more and more details about the murders. Because of the nature of the crimes, the press agreed to play down the coverage. In accordance to the commissioner's request, the press covered each murder separately, never letting on that the killings were by the same person. This was made easier by the fact that each murder was committed in a different borough each time, until, that is, the sixth and seventh set of victims. "Where did murders number six and seven occur?" he asked Alicia.
"Murder six was committed in the same borough as the first: Staten Island. Murder seven was committed in Queens, just as the second had been. By this time we'd realized there was only one person responsible for the murders, based on what little clues were left behind and the forensics and pathology reports. The killer appeared to be going round-robin, revisiting each borough in order until he felt he was done."
"Alicia, after seven sets of murders, the killer must have been able to spell out something. What was it?" asked Alex.
At this, Alicia blanched. She turned away from Alex and lowered her head. Alex immediately felt contrite. She hadn't meant to cause Alicia any pain. "I'm sorry, Alicia, I didn't mean to…"
Alicia, her head still lowered, gave a little wave of her hand. Seeing how unnerved Alicia became at Alex's question, Bobby stepped into the breach.
"The letters spelled out "I love you,'" he said quietly.
"Oh, my God," Alex exclaimed, "this was the killer's way of sending a romantic message to someone?"
"Yes," Bobby answered.
"Did you have any idea who the message was for?" asked Agent Matthews.
Bobby and Alicia looked at each for a long moment.
"Me," Alicia said finally.
